This morning we got the little guys all dressed up and had the traditional pictures taken. Yes, last night, poor little Xiu injured a finger in the sliding bathroom door, so he is all bandaged up...but not slowed down one bit. :) So there we are with our doubled family :) All four guys were on the go in the lobby racing back and forth, trying to sneak onto the escalators (the bell boys were chasing them along with us) and generally have a jolly good time, so this is a remarkable split second in time in which they are not moving...that much, sorry that we all seem to be looking at different cameras :)
Here is our group, with all our new children!
And here is one of us and my father
An attempt at "the babies and not so babies shot" ahem...(has there ever really been a successful shot??)
Two babies are missing from this picture, and maybe you can just see the fingers of some parents trying to hold some of the little ones from behind... :)
You all must be praying, for my hip (which never just gets better on its own) is doing so, so much better in the past 24hrs or so! So much so that I had the fun of going out shopping in some tiny local shops with Kiki. She is becoming a top notch bargainer, and we got some great deals :)
Then in the afternoon, the all-important sealed brown envelopes arrived from the consulate! HOORAY! Some families left today, some are leaving tomorrow, and we are leaving in 2 days approximately. :)
Love all the pictures and so thankful with you for all that He has done! Planning to share the expanded family pic on Sunday, is that okay? --Bethany R.
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog! Right when it first came up, I was so encouraged to see your family picture! We will be traveling soon to pick up our little boy in Henan. We currently have three bios (age 6, 3, 1) and were wondering how hard it will be to travel with them all and then go get our fourth. Would LOVE your opinion on hard it has been traveling with them all. Looks like you had help though, your father. Can you email me? Thank so much!!
ReplyDeleteHi B! I wasn't able to find your email address, maybe you can point me to it? We are very glad we were able to travel with our littles. However, we had our nanny along (she had an adjoining suite) and my father, so it was a one to one adult to kiddo ratio. Frankly, we could not have done it without our nanny, and I would not attempt it without help. All of our littles were significantly sick and various times in the trip and you need so much to focus on your newly adopted child too. Also, there are many situations in the legal process/meetings/paperwork were it really is not feasible to have your other kids with you. Our nanny, was worth her weight in gold. She was the ideal travel companion--she was always anticipating our needs, already very much a part of our family, understands adoption (she is an adoptee herself) and was focused on helping us in every way possible so that we could all 6 bond as a family. It was huge when we couldn't take our bios with us to some office or city that we knew they were with her and being loved and cared for really well. We got two panda phones so she could stay in contact with us at all times. My father was able to help with the luggage (big blessing) and to a small extent the kids---he helped play with the bio kids some afternoons when I had hurt my hip badly. However, our nanny was our main help with the kids. If you have someone who is loving, competent, cheerful, flexible and understands adoption stresses to go with you, then by all means I would recommend taking your kids--the family bonding and comfort of being all together is immeasurable. However, I would never attempt taking very young children without such help. Also, we do travel with our kids a LOT. so they are used to long flights, trains, cars, hotels and new places etc...If your family isn't in the habit of travel, I would recommend you plan a lot of long road trips prior to China, each longer than the last and build up the kids' tolerance to it! ;)
DeleteAlso, our nanny really "got" the whole "bonding" thing...that is HUGE...make sure your travel companion understands this! Not just "ok, if you say so" but really understands why, and the trauma that these children have already been through, and really wants to support you as parents, not just do their own thing. Otherwise they will constantly be undermining your efforts, which will just lead to frustration--an extra stress neither you nor your adopted child need.
DeleteHi I am Megan Goggans, Shirley Goggans' daughter in law from Grace Community Church in Maryville, TN. She has been keeping me updated on all of your progress and I just wanted to say congratulations! She wanted me to share with you guys some of the resources that Knox Co has to offer since I am an intellectual and developmental case worker for a non profit in Knoxville. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that Diaper Love gives out a free box of diapers once a month to each little one as long as you come to the pick up point for that month and contact them online. If you ever need any help with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) through the school system you can contact TN Voices for Children's Advocacy or STEP. I realize that your little ones aren't quite at that age yet but I just wanted to pass that along. If you would like a list of resources just contact Shirley Goggans at church and I will be glad to pass along more info.
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